Can the government be held responsible for failing to provide adequate medical care for an inmate?

The government has an "obligation to provide medical care for those whom it is punishing by incarceration," and failure to meet that obligation can constitute an Eighth Amendment violation cognizable under section 1983. Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97, 103-05 (1976). In order to prevail on an Eighth Amendment claim for inadequate medical care, a plaintiff must show "deliberate indifference" to his "serious medical needs." Id. at 104.

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This includes "both an objective standardthat the deprivation was serious enough to constitute cruel and unusual punishmentand a subjective standarddeliberate indifference." Snow v. McDaniel, 681 F.3d 978, 985 (9th Cir. 2012), overruled in part on other grounds by Peralta v. Dillard, 744 F.3d 1076 (9th Cir. 2014).